


did you really think i was gonna leave you?

by weasleysking



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Stucky - Freeform, tony is still dead im sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 04:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20384011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weasleysking/pseuds/weasleysking
Summary: “Come on Buck,” he said, grinning. “Did you really think I was gonna leave you?”“Steve,” Bucky whispered, and though they had hugged only moments ago, Steve dropped the bag he was carrying and he and Bucky flung themselves into each other’s arms, and for a moment, the world melted away.or; steve returns the infinity stones and has his dance with peggy. but could he really leave bucky and the rest of his family?





	did you really think i was gonna leave you?

**Author's Note:**

> hi!! this is the first fic i've ever posted and i'm super nervous, but also kinda excited. i really hope you enjoy it :)

Sam and Bruce stood by the quantum entrance, staring at each other.  
“Where the hell is he?” Sam said sharply.  
“I don’t know!”  
“Bring him back!”  
“I’m trying!”  
Bucky was looking at the entrance too. Steve, whatever he would look like now, should have been back. Unless something had gone wrong. In which case, he knew he had to say something. 

“Guys,” Bucky said softly, and Sam and Bruce turned to face him. “There’s something I have to tell you.”  
“Spit it out Barnes,” Sam said, eyebrow raised.  
Bucky nodded, and swallowed. “Steve...he went to go put the stones back. But he also planned something else. He’s also-”  
“-Right here,” a voice from behind Bucky cut him off, and he spun around. There stood Steve, as young, strong and handsome looking as ever, but with a distinct new sense of… wholesomeness.  
“Come on Buck,” he said, grinning. “Did you really think I was gonna leave you?”  
“Steve,” Bucky whispered, and though they had hugged only moments ago, Steve dropped the bag he was carrying and he and Bucky flung themselves into each other’s arms, and for a moment, the world melted away. 

Only a moment of course, if Sam Wilson had anything to do with it.  
“Uh, hello?” He asked sharply. “Someone gonna tell me what the hell is going on here?”  
Steve grinned. He and Bucky hadn’t let go of each other yet.  
“Banner?” Sam asked, turning to face Bruce. “You know anything about this?” But Bruce was staring, wide eyed, pale for the green his skin usually was, at something by the quantum entrance. Sam, Bucky and Steve all turned to face it. Everyone around them stopped and stared. Everyone was silent, for just one moment.  
“Nat?” Bruce whispered, hoarsely. 

Natasha Romanoff looked down from where she was standing on the platform. She smiled, and her eyes sparkled.  
“Hey big guy,” she replied softly, and her feet took off from the platform and jumped down beside him, where they gripped each other tightly, tears shining in both their eyes. They stood there for just a moment, and Bruce whispered something in her ear. She smiled, and turned to the others.  
“H-how-” Sam stuttered, walking up to hug Nat, looking shaken. She embraced him and turned to where everyone else was standing. Thor smiled broadly and waved at her. “Glad you’re back,” he said in his smooth voice. “I was missing the second strongest avenger.” She grinned at him. Scott, Wanda and Rhodey stood next to him, open mouthed and gaping.  
“Steve can explain,” she smiled as she grabbed Wanda and pulled her into a hug. “But I’m here. I promise.”  
“Nat.”  
She turned to where Clint sat on the ground, overcome with emotion. “Natasha,” he choked, and Nat sank onto the ground beside him, where the two of them hugged, in tears. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “It’s me, I promise it’s me-”  
“I’m sorry,” he gasped. “I’m so sorry-”  
“Shut your mouth Barton,” she choked out. “I’m here now aren’t I?”  
The two laughed through sobs, and everyone stared at the two of them, still in shock.  
Bucky looked at Steve.  
“It looks like you did a bit more than return the stones after all,” he whispered, and Steve nodded, still not letting him go. 

The group sat around a small bonfire in the garden later that night. Pepper and Happy had come down at one point and Pepper had promptly cried in shock at seeing Nat as they hugged. Steve then hugged Pepper tightly, and whispered he was sorry, but everyone knew she understood. Some moments in time could never be changed. The two of them left again a few moments later, back up to the house where Morgan was, but had told everyone they were welcome to stay the night. Peter was apparently already fast asleep on the floor next to Morgan, who, Pepper informed them, despite both of them being confused and upset, had already bonded. 

The group had gathered around to listen to Steve recount his story of putting the infinity stones back in place. He then briefly mentioned he had gone to visit Peggy. (“Who’s Peggy?” Scott whispered. Rhodey shrugged, just as clueless, and the avengers and Bucky grinned). “That’s not a story for me to tell now,” he smiled, and Nat squeezed his hand. Bucky had been gripping his other tightly for the last hour. His story ended where eventually, he had landed in Vormir, where he had gotten Natasha back. 

“But...How?” Clint asked horsley. “A soul for a soul.”  
“Oh man, he totally went back in time and got one of those nazi guys right?” Sam grinned, and Steve and Bucky laughed.  
“Sadly, no,” he said, then pulled the bag from under his feet out. “But that brings me to this.”  
Steve pulled out his shield, brand new without a scratch on it. He stared at it for only a moment, then stood up and handed it to Sam. Sam’s eyes widened.  
“The hell are you doing Cap?” Sam asked, his voice unsure. 

Steve sat back down once Sam had a firm hold on the shield and looked around at the group.  
“I’ve spent almost my entire life as Captain America,” he informed the group. “But after all this… I don’t want that anymore. I was going to go and spend the rest of my life with Peggy, like I’d planned before I went under the ice, but the guy who needed her, who wanted a family, he went under the ice with me all those years ago. I miss her everyday, but she had found a connection with someone else, someone who she could relate to and be happy with. And I still had someone here.”  
Bucky sucked in a breath next to Steve.  
“I was Cap in many ways on the inside, but I was also never Cap until I’d had that serum injected in me. Cap was apart of me, but he wasn’t all I was.” Everyone was looking at Steve. Sam still stared down at the shield.  
“I traded Cap’s soul. To bring Nat’s back.”  
“Imagine if you’d come back as pre serum Steve,” Bruce replied, and everyone laughed.  
“Tiny Rogers! Now that’s something I’d like to see.” Thor grinned. Steve laughed, then his face turned serious again as he resumed his story.  
“I don’t want that life anymore. I don’t need it anymore. For the first time since before I went under the ice, I have everything I need. I shared a moment with Peg I’d been waiting for my life for. I have my soulmate sitting right next to me, alive. I’ve lived a hundred lives with that shield, but none of them have ever made me whole, given me everything I needed. I have that now. Cap was what I had when I was alone. But I’m not alone anymore.”  
Everyone was quiet. Bucky was still gripping Steve’s hand, and Steve squeezed back just as tightly.  
“So Sam,” Steve turned a moment later to where Sam sat, still staring open mouthed at the shield and back up at Steve. “How does it feel?”  
“Are you losing it man?” Sam asked him sharply. “You’re not serious.”  
“Dead serious,” Steve replied, smiling slightly. “How does it feel?”  
“Like someone else’s,” Sam replied, and the others grinned.  
“You’ll get used to it,” Steve said. “That’s how I felt the first time I held it too.”  
“Man, I don’t think I can do this-”  
“Of course you can,” Nat said, cutting over Sam.  
“You think Steve would just hand that shield to the first person he thought of?” Clint said, smirking.  
“I wouldn’t,” Steve said seriously. “Trust me on this one, Sam. You’re ready.”  
Sam looked around at everyone, then back at Steve.  
“I mean…” he said, for once speechless, short of a snarky comment. “You’re not even gonna give it to Barnes?”  
Nat grinned.  
Steve looked at Bucky from under his eye lashes. Bucky looked back, nodding.  
“I already have a metal arm,” Bucky replied. “All you have is a shitty pair of wings.”  
“Wow, wow-” Everyone laughed.  
Steve smiled. “Bucky is gonna want to fight alongside you, don’t worry about that, you two will have plenty of time for bickering then. But we have other stuff to do, right Buck?”  
Bucky nodded, and Sam looked down again.  
“You sure man? I mean, yeah, I’d love too. I want to. I’m just worried you’re making a mistake.”  
“No. I’m not. I know you, what you’re capable of, and who you are. This isn’t a mistake, Captain.” 

Slowly, everyone began to leave after Steve’s story had finished. Scott and Clint had both left to be with their families, clapping Steve on the back as they left. Clint and Nat didn’t let go of each other for a long time. Steve wondered what had happened between them on Vormir, but knowing the two of them well, he could guess. Wanda bade them goodnight, hugging both Nat and Steve tightly, before heading out with Rhodey, who said goodnight and went up to meet Happy out the front of the house. Steve wasn’t sure where they were going, but once again, he could guess. Thor then explained to the rest of them his plan to go work with the guardians. Steve, Nat and Bruce were happy that he looked like he’d found the right people to be around. It was going to take some time for him to get back on his feet, but he would. He left not long after, swinging his hammer and waving merrily at them as he blasted into the sky. Bruce and Nat stayed a little longer, but eventually, the two got up and made their way up to the house, where they planned to stay for the night and figure out what they were doing tomorrow. That left Sam, Steve and Bucky, who, Steve was amused to see, had clicked slightly and had begun to argue a little less. He always knew they would work well together. Eventually, Sam stood up and stretched. 

“Well Cap- uh- Steve- I’m glad you came home. Thanks for… thanks for thinking of me for this.” He gestured to the shield. Steve slapped him on the back as they hugged for a moment.  
“Didn’t think of anyone else Sam. You’ve got this.” Sam and Bucky nodded to each other, then, hesitantly, shook hands.  
As Sam walked away toward his car, he turned back around.  
“Don’t stay up too late you two,” he said mockingly, laughing as he got into his car. “And use protection!”  
Bucky pulled the finger at him as he drove away, and Steve shook his head. That left the two of them, sitting alone, the fire crackling, silent for a moment. 

“So,” Bucky said after a minute of listening to nature. “What’d you say to Peggy?”  
“Oh, you know, I explained everything,” Steve replied.  
“And she believed you?”  
“Course she did.”  
“And then?”  
Steve looked up at Bucky, and he smiled softly.  
“We danced.”  
“Yeah?”  
“Yeah.”  
“At the club?”  
“At the club.”  
“Was it good?”  
Steve thought for a minute. “It was,” he said quietly. “It was perfect. Just a few years late is all.”  
They fell silent again.  
“You could have stayed with her,” Bucky said a moment later. “You know I wouldn’t have minded. I already told you that you should.”  
“Yeah, I know,” Steve said. “But I told you. She’d met a good guy. A great guy. Someone from your platoon.”  
“Oh,” Bucky grinned. “Yeah. I know the guy. Couldn’t remember his name for the life of me though.”  
Steve nodded. “And she really loved him, you know? And they had kids.”  
“Yeah?”  
“She named one Steve.”  
“Good name.”  
Steve nodded, playing with Bucky’s hand in his.  
“But you could have changed it. You could have been with her. Married her. Those could have been your kids.”  
“Yeah,” Steve said, unsure. “But she loved him.”  
“She loved you too,” Bucky said.  
“I know,” Steve said, looking at Bucky. “But like I said. Did you really think I was gonna leave you?”  
“Maybe,” Bucky said thoughtfully. “For Peg. And the life you always wanted.”  
“The life I always wanted was with you,” he said, definite. “And Peg, if I could. But what I really needed with her was our dance. I loved Peggy, I love Peggy, but she’s there, and I’m here. Without the infinity stones I wouldn’t have gotten to change our timeline. I would have been happy with you, retired, y’know?”  
Bucky nodded. They were quiet again. 

“Did you mean what you said before,” Bucky said slowly. “About me being your soulmate?”  
“Every word,” Steve inclined his head, and Bucky brushed his hair off his forehead.  
“What the hell are we, Steve?”  
Steve laughed, and Bucky joined in. They laughed for a few minutes, until there were tears streaming out of their eyes. Delirious. Emotional. Wounded. But almost, almost, at peace.  
“I don’t know Buck,” he replied, pulling Bucky in tightly for a hug. “I really don’t know.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!  
i'm on tumblr too, come cry with me over fiction! @miss-mysticfalls


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